Mort was resting with his eyes half closed in the dim lit room he called his home. The personal quarters of Alcatraz Depot were quite small, and while he knew he could always move to Sylpheeds office he never dared to do so.
Somehow he felt the place was quite uncomfortable, it was just toolarge. He would rather work right here, the large piles of shredded paper, neat stacks of documents and some empty, some shattered glasses laid around the room accompanied by a few empty bottles of some beverage, which wasnt even sold on the stations bar.
He was waiting for his underboss to come, he had a few things to discuss and he needed someone who would coordinate the next actions, while he was away on the meeting with the LSF agent Julia Wolffe. Odd lass she was, but he didnt complain. The happenings of the last few months were alarming at best, rheinlanders, nomads, odd murders and unexplained destructions of his patrols and the growing incompetence of other rogues, who seemed to understand their job was to attack every navy or police patrol in the area, often misjudging their chances and fleeing, leading the bastards right to their doorstep.
Maybe I should contact the shipyard and borrow a few high capacity turrets for the base defences He murmured to himself, suddenly chuckling loudly as he could only see Alcatraz equipped with battle razors and pulse cannons
With that much luck we could joust Missouri with our base. He gave another sigh and then looked out of the illuminator to see another train, a Junker, arrive and request mooring rights to repair and rearm the smuggling ship.
Nodding to himself the young man stood up and felt soft popping noises run down his neck and back and soon enough he took a few papers, which showed todays shipment of slaves, which were bound to Omicron Alpha.
He remembered what the odd visitor from not too long ago had told him. The business opportunity was way too large to simply let it pass buy and he grinned quite happily.
Yotaka..the hell are you, damnit. He growled silently and put the paper to rest on a small desk, waiting for the girl.
It was dark, and warm, and comfortable. Ashes didn't want to move. Half awake and half asleep, she lay in her bed, snugly wrapped in a blanket in her quarters. She rolled over and glanced at the alarm clock sitting near her bed. Through half closed eyes she glanced at it for a moment. It took a few moments for her sleepy brain to process the information before double taking. She tossed the blanket aside, sat up straight and grabbed the alarm clock to look at it again. "Oh crap" Ashes swore to herself. She swung herself out of bed and stopped to grab her pants. Ashes hopped on one leg madly as she tried to pull them up to her waist while still moving towards her wardrobe. She pulled the shirt she was wearing over her head and tossed it into a pile of unwashed clothing on the floor and grabbed another top before running for the door, ignoring the chilly air and the urge to be wrapped snugly warm in her blanket once more.
Ashes slipped her feet into her combat boots quickly without tying the laces and hit a button by the door. There was a clank as the magnetic lock released its' self and a pressurised hiss as the door automatically slid open. Ashes ran out the door, pulling the orange sleeveless shirt over her head as she went. The door closed and locked behind her as she turned and ran down the hall.
Ashes pulled open the door on Morts' living quarters and stood in the door way panting for a few moments, until she managed to catch enough breath to mutter "Sorry I'm late." She stepped into the room and the door slid closed behind her. Ashes looked quite a mess, with her hair sticking up all over the place and one of her shirt straps had fallen down over her shoulder. Her boots were unties and she wasn't wearing a belt, and so her pants hung on a jaunty angle off her hips, and Ashes still had a just-woke-up look on her face. She sat down on front of Mort and pulled the strap back up over her shoulder.
"Hey Morty. What's so important that I had to wake up so early anyway?" Ashes complained. Being confined to the station was making Ashes rather lazy of late. Mort looked up at her and said "It's three PM." Ashes groaned dismissively. "We live in space. On a station, how can you really be sure it's 3PM and not 3AM" She muttered drowsily as she tried to keep her head up. She slapped a hand to her face and ran it down her cheek to try and wake herself up.
"So, what is it?" She enquired again.
Andrew watched the mess that now stood in his doorway with a half-amused look on his face, before watching it move around to sit down and begin to question him on matters completely irrelevant.
He sat down on a simple stool as well and took the paper he had set aside before and bent it and ruffled into a small ball, which he promptly threw at Ashes and watched it land on her lap.
"That..." He pointed out while taking out another list and observed it, not paying attention to his guest whatsoever "Is a list of today's inbound ships carrying slaves. They will moor here to restock on supplies and fuel, while doing so, we shall sort the slaves onboard. Write this down."
He said while pointing at a pencil on the bed, taking another for himself as he scribled something down on the paper he was holding in his usual chaotic writing.
"Any slave, that looks younger then twenty shall be bought for exactly a thousand credits, allright? The junkers will like that, it will pay more then going all the way to Alpha and waste all that fuel, considering its the little ones who die along the way."
He pointed at the illuminator on the hangar.
"I am sure you can get some blokes to help you sort them, they are to be sent to the empty storage rooms on block 3C1, its right next to 3C2, the cooling chambers, yes." He murmured that out and then looked around as if seeking something.
"After that, gether up a few helpers, preferably those who are a bit drunk not to start freaking out and each selected slave is to be gutted. The main things we need are hearts, kidneys, lungs, and so on..." He kept on explaining with a completely straight face.
"After that pack it all in crates and set them in the cooling chambers to be picked up for later. Those slavers get around two thousand per slave with the Outcasts....well take the ones who will die while they get there anyway for a thousand and we can sell the organs on the black market for over six thousand."
Mort only yawned now as he indeed was beginning to feel the effect of a whole nights work deciding on finishing this meeting as fast as possible.
"In short, gut the kids, let the Outcasts have the rest, ill see to contact the known, who passed me this idea to double check who to sell these to for an even better prize."
The young man yawned once more and got up, stretching out happily, a few other pops in his neck going off one by one.
"I hope you can organize this well enough, Ashes?"
Ashes grabbed a pencil from Morts' desk and started scribbling rather messily on the piece of paper on her lap, while resting her free elbow on the back of the seat and holding up her head with the palm of her hand. Her lower lip pouted out slightly as she scrawled down notes on what Mort was saying. Her writing was probably illegible to anyone else but her.
'Young slaves 一千c'
'empty storage, block 三C一 next to cooling chamber'
'Sober helpers to ...' Ashes scribbled, with the occasional squiggle or heart scribbled around the page. As she got to the end of her third sentence she stopped writing and looked up at Mort as he continued to speak. She waited for him to finish speaking and look back up at her.
"Ashes?" He repeated, to get a response. Ashes got to her feet, pushing the chair back slightly to demonstrate her protest. "That's Barbaric." She replied. Ashes couldn't believe what Mort was proposing, and there was no way she was going to stand for it.
"Piracy and Smuggling, that's an honest living. But killin' people, children no less, and selling their innards? Where's that get fun? We ain't the Liberty Ghouls, Mort." She stamped her foot in protest.
Mort didn't really do anything when she stood up, having his back turned to her as he was looking over some papers, but once he turned back to her his palm pushed her down by the shoulder back onto her seat as he was now looming over her and digging through the desk behind her as he pulled out a clean peace of paper again, while murmuring to himself "I don't see your point."
He once again sat down and snapped his fingers to get her attention and pointed out to the paper. "It's quite easy, first you take a sharp knife, I am sure Henry in the bar can lend you a few, considering you will return them in time for dinner. Then you make a clean Y cut from the shoulders, down to the chest and underbelly. Unfold the skin from there and take a hammer and break the supporting bone in the center of the ribcage. That way you can simply unbend and snap off the ribs around. Clean slices here and there... " he murmrued as he showed where to server the heart and lungs...
"There we go, put that all in the cold chambers for it to cool down. The body can be fed to the pitbull dogs, the arena never gets enough meat and this is a good way to make sure it does." He chukled softly and hummed idly as he finished scribling and put the paper infront of her and grinned slyly "Oh...remember to make a control shot to the head before you begin...." he turned away, licking his lips in utter pleasure at the thought as he took out a device or two to take with him along with a knife, which was usually hidden in the inner pockets of his vest.
"I am leaving for now...got a bitch to catch. After that I will take over the harvesting. I am counting on you."
He chuckled as if never hearing her complain. Maybe it was for the best, he still had the knife in his hand after all.
Ashes grimaced and gripped her pants with her hands as Mort vividly described how to dissect a person. That was information she could have gone on living without. If anything it only strengthened her argument against his orders, though. Ashes got back to her feet as Mort tried to leave. She nimbly ducked in front of him and placed her arm across the door to block his exit.
"There is a thin line between pirate and monster, Mortimer. Don't cross it. You can find someone else to count on, cause I ain't doing it." Ashes put her foot down. This act went against everything Ashes stood for.
"Mort, there's plenty of other avenues we can turn to for cash... we don't have to allow ourselves slip into this madness." Ashes tried to reason with him. If she could convince him that there were other viable sources of income then perhaps he wouldn't be so inclined to go through with this madness. "Let's sit down and talk this out some more..." She pleaded. Ashes was fine to be called a Pirate, scum, or even a heartless bitch. But she would not stand to become known as a ghoul who robs people of their organs for profit.
It was a good thing, that Mort slowed down as he had forgotten something, with his own mass he would have broken her arm if he had walked straight into it. He tho looked down at her, being somewhat taller and grinned sweetly.
"Would you rather have your own organs sold...? If you haven't noticed, we have troublesome times, the police and navy are mobilizing their spare forces, the lanes are protected as ever and I do not even know for sure this little deal between us and the LSF will turn out good."
He said and moved back to the desk to dig around a little while continuing.
"Our usual income of pirating those traders is dwindling fast, there are not many windows of opportunity left to use anymore. So why not use the resources we have now, hmm? If it seems I cannot trust you to do simple tasks like cut meat, I will do it myself when I return. I am just glad to see who can I count on.." He laughed at the last part and sneered "But hey...you can always keep one as your little pet. He can hold the tools for you or keep you company at night. See if I care." He chuckled and then suddenly his smile vanished and he looked at her allmost without any expression...
"I want the goddamn party done by the time I fraking return, you got that? I have no time for this crap, lass. Either I find new ways to sustain our bases with the necessary funding or we all die of starvation and seeking ...as you put it, other avenues, won't get us nowhere fast. We do not have enough men to upkeep the Blood Diamond smuggling Or the gold trade from the Hessians and Mollys. You think I've not checked every effing possibility?" He almost hissed. It was a rarity to see Mort pissed and many knew just how unstable he was like this. Last time it ended with a barghest ripped apart by his own guns for letting a cargo hauler get away.
Ashes stood up straight, and even though Mort was taller than her, she would not let him intimidate her.
"You think I don't know that?" She replied in an equal tone. "I may not be in space much any more but I've seen the decline in activity. I do your paper work, I collect your dues." She stamped back angrily. As if she didn't know the situation already. Ashes had looked at the Liberty Rogues records thoroughly as well, she knew this was a pattern.
"This ain't the first time the Liberty Rogues have been in a peck of trouble. Ain't gonna be the last, neither. Each of the leaders before you, Sylpheed an' Valder an' the likes. They all overcame our strife without resorting to such acts of barbarism." She said, trying to convince Mort to consider other options.
"Look, let's sit down and discuss this." Ashes said. "Bailey has come up with a few ideas which, without our current standing with the LN and LSF could work." She ducked out from in front of him and strode back to the seat and sat down.
"Mort, sit down and lets talk. I can't be your underboss if you don't talk these things over with me." Ashes offered.
Andrew only chuckled silently and smiled at her, getting the last peace of equipment with him, before walking on to the door, which still was yet to be closed.
"I really suggest you trust me on this, lass. What is better, a shot to the head or the lovely sight of them being cut to shreds by the very grass they will gather on Malta...if they survive the trip there, that is.."
He let another chuckle slip from his lips and turned to face her, leaning back against the door frame and smiled a bit "Stop your fidgeting...if there is a way I can make quick money to keep us afloat I will do it. Like I care who gets cut and how, I need those organs. Unless you plan to send rogues to start kidnapping transport crews instead, I see no alternative, which could be as profitable..or amusing."
The young man got out a watch of sorts and murmured. "You have five minutes to make a reasonable offer, my dear, after that I must depart."
Ashes shook her head and sighed, there didn't seem to be any swaying Mort's mind. But she would try none the less. The slaughter and sale of humans was not something she wanted to be a part of by any case.
"I was chatting with Bailey in the bar the other night. He was probably too drunk to remember but he came up with a few ideas. Veritable untapped markets, each with a demand." She began to explain.
"First things' a fighting ring. We set it up in the remote sections of a system away from prying eyes of the LPI an' put two combatants in a ring while the spectators bid up big. They fight it out 'til one of them keens, then we gather up the earnings and distribute the winnings." Ashes began explaining, she could already see Morts' disinterest, so she quickly got to the part he would be more interested in.
"Where's the profit you ask? We throw in a few of our own fighters to the mix. Then when the odds are in our favour, the other combatant takes a dive and we rake in the earnings." She finished explaining, and quickly moved onto the second idea.
"Second idea was a gambling ring. We get folks in to take bets on races an' stuff. Of course it'll all be rigged in our favour, we'll be raking in the cash while occasionally letting people win to give the illusion it's possible." Ashes explained quickly. "The first idea could probably tie in with the first well enough as well. There is a third idea... but it is almost as unsavoury as the Organ trade... if not even more so." Ashes finished, and waited for Morts' ideas on the matter.